Cricket: England may have managed to beat Australia at last, but the selectors will still be looking for improvements over the next few months. David Warner suggests they could do worse than look at Yorkshire's Michael Vaughan, who captains the England A side in Zimbabwe and South Africa in the New Year.

ALTHOUGH YORKSHIRE opener Michael Vaughan is just turned 24, he is already a veteran campaigner when it comes to cricket tours abroad and he will be packing his bags early in the New Year for his eighth winter journey to warmer parts of the world.

He captains England A on their visits to Zimbabwe and South Africa knowing full well that this trip is by far the most important of his career for a variety of reasons.

First and foremost, Vaughan and his young band of team-mates can help to restore some national pride after the indignities we have had to endure through England's senior squad making struggling in the Ashes series.

And if Vaughan can combine personal success on the tour with some outstanding team performances, it will be a double boost for the Lancastrian who was brought up in Sheffield where he shares a flat with former Yorkshire colleague Richard Kettleborough, now with Middlesex.

So far, Vaughan has not been able to manage that giant stride from England A to a full England cap, but he's determined to bridge the gap and knows that some big scores this winter should help him to do so.

Also, if Vaughan can clearly demonstrate his powers of leadership in Zimbabwe and South Africa, it will be a further step on the road towards one day captaining Yorkshire and perhaps even England.

It can be argued that he is already serving an apprenticeship which could lead to both jobs, provided he also proves his worth as a top batsman.

Vaughan has already gone through the England and Wales Cricket Board course on management skills at the Bradford Management Centre and this undoubtedly had a bearing on the decision to make him England A captain ahead of one or two other front-runners.

It is also significant that when Yorkshire skipper David Byas took a rest from the Cambridge University game at Headingley in late June, it was Vaughan who was put in charge, despite Darren Gough also being in the side.

Vaughan has toured India and Australia with England A, India and Sri Lanka with England Under 19s and the West Indies, South Africa and Zimbabwe with Yorkshire, so he should be able to help tour manager Phil Neale and coach John Emburey make sure that the players settle down and feel at ease while abroad.

Not that several of the squad are short of experience themselves because Darren Maddy -Vaughan's vice-captain - Melvyn Betts, Andy Flintoff, Jason Lewry, Mal Loye, Vikram Solanki and Darren Thomas have all been around a bit and are pushing their England claims, as is Vaughan's Yorkshire team-mate Paul Hutchison who is by no means at the back of the queue.

Vaughan admits to being taken by surprise when it was announced that he was to captain England A this winter.

"There were no real hints and nothing had been written about it in the newspapers," he said.

"The only person to mention it to me as a strong possibility was Goughie and he seems to be in the know on these things.

"It was a surprise, but also a massive honour and I am thrilled to bits."

England A are now coming towards the end of their extensive tour preparations and Vaughan is convinced that he is in command of a strong unit which has every faith in its abilities.

"We started in early autumn with fitness tests and profiles at Headingley and then went to the Lake District for a week of team building similar to what the British Lions did before South Africa. We set off for Zimbabwe on January 8.

"I feel sure I have gained the respect of the other members of the side and you only need to watch us practising and training together to see what a great rapport we have got going between us."

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